"driving"

#1 worst problem in Rhode Island.

That's a risk of barn cats. They live a shorter life, but if you're willing to care for a barn cat, there are also always more to adopt.

Would never turn a kitten into a barn cat, only adults that are already mostly feral.

There are baits that don't have secondary poisoning. Mouse-x for example, is effectively potato starch.

When choosing bait, go for the ones that are safe from secondary.

Dunno why you're being downvoted for the truth of it.

IIRC, that was the plan for Crystal Mall in Waterford.

This kind of mall conversion can be incredibly successful, and was mixed retail and residential was actually part of the original design for a shopping mall. The Arcade in Providence is a good example of a converted mall, though it is also a pretty small mall overall.

Converting malls to mixed use also opens up their hardscape for redevelopment. Those parking lots don't need to be near as big when it's not all retail.

Another conversion that worked out includes Highland Mall in Austin that became the new Austin Community College main campus. Doubled the classroom capacity of ACC, plus added on-campus housing for the first time.

Alaina's is an acceptable burrito. This coming from a native Texan.

Missed West bakery, but otherwise an excellent list

Did they replace that taco shop? Gonna have to duck in.

WW one is alright. Better on a quiet night

I've had the best luck with Alton brown's country style steak recipe. Cooks up even better if you have a pressure cooker like an instant pot. When you have the instant pot, you can use literally any kind of roast and have it come out delicious. A well marbled but traditionally tough cut like a chuck roast was always my favorite.

In the end, we need it all. What seems to happen is that we chase the ideal solution while passing up lessor opportunities.

I think your approach is a great start. Low on budget to make significant improvements.

We'll need the flashy new lines someday, but the high speed line is more effective when you can get places locally when you arrive and it's also more effective with fewer stops. A grade separated 200+ mph rail gets you between NYC, New Haven, Providence, and Boston in just a bit past an hour. From there, local transit should take over.

On that note, CT is ahead of our neighbours in that way. Public transit in Providence is horrid and transit in Mass is hyper focused on Boston to the detriment of anyone in the west or out towards the Cape.

Can't really go wrong with anything on the Southwest side of RI, or SECT near the border for that matter. Exeter and it's CT counterpart Voluntown get a little woodsy, but even they have their charms.

If I was moving to this area for any reason other than the reason I moved here, I would probably buy something Central Westerly/Pawcatuck. Ideally walking or at least short biking distance from downtown.

Voluntown has solved this pretty well, in some areas, with zone overlays. It still needs work, but the lake zone and town center zone overlays have been effective at creating pretty good development over the years.

I think we'll have to update regs on the main zones and general regs, though, because we're running into issues with new construction being solely in the 3k sq ft range and a low number of empty or new lots being sold. Town center zoning could expand; we could drop rear lot size (4 acres -> 2 acres) and limits (3 -> 5); we should allow ADU's on all lots and encourage their construction, especially in town center, through tax breaks for ADU's used as long term rentals; I'm also a fan of the idea of creating a town center center zoning overlay that encourages 2-over-1 mixed-use buildings (home or apartments over commercial).

The problem is not zoning that allows building. Eventually money will win out and land will be developed.

Fighting development means that you have less power to control what kind of development you see. If you want to protect farmland, you allow new construction in the town center, decrease lot size requirements in town center, allow and even encourage ADU's on lots of all sizes, and allow small multifamily (duplex to 4-plex) on large lots. You also want to encourage the small "starter" homes through quick-and-easy permitting reform to allow houses sub 2k sq ft express permitting and encouraging modular (not mobile) construction practices. You can also do lot splits with the requirement that any houses built on the new lots be under a certain sq ft size or cap sq footage as a function of lot size or zone, but I like those options less.

Your complaint that house prices have jumped is because inventory is too low. There are always going to be investors looking to buy up houses and either flip or rent them. When new inventory is consistently being built, rental prices in your town come down and individuals have a better chance of securing a purchase. It doesn't take much to do. Voluntown, for example, could get by with maybe 10-20 new houses a year? But that's not what's happening.

I mean, that would be a fun way to play it out.

Mmm. I like the town system, buuuut, we also need a way for larger cities to involuntarily annex smaller kin or at least areas of smaller kin.

Honestly? Westerly, RI and its attached beach town Misquamicut might be the better option. Gorgeous beaches, not on the sound, and decent nightlife is available, I think. Westerly is also maybe the most New England of towns in the region and leans a little younger than Stonington.

Or maybe even further into RI to South Kingstown (college town) and Narragansett (beach town). Gansett can get a bit touristy, but it's mostly with people day tripping from Providence. Newport and Mystic draw more regional/national tourists.

If you want more city, Providence proper and New Haven both host Ivy league universities, have waterfront and night life. There are ferries that can get you out to block island from Providence (with a few hops), which I hear is a lovely trip. New Haven is the last stop on the NYC rail line, so it's not difficult to get into the city from there.

If you plan in advance, you can easily hit the entire coast via Amtrak. It's the one place in the nation that there's a working, practical rail line that can take you from NYC along the sound to New Haven, Mystic, Westerly, Providence, and into Boston. No car necessary.

Enjoy, eat a lot of seafood and pizza.

Sunrun is the worst.

SunPower is who I went went, they were installed by Earthlight Technologies and it was fantastic and painless.

I went with a lease because the monthly cost of the lease was almost $20k over 20 years less than an owned system purchased outright. I would definitely get multiple quotes and have them quote you both leased and owned. I also liked SunPower's system buyout clause, which is set to market rate determined by an independent assessor (according to their contract). Their panels are among the best, side-by-side with Samsung.

My price went up by ~$10/mo over 2 months since I let my initial quote expire. Regret that over the 20 years. Still should save at least $250/mo over Eversource. Should be a good time to get on the list with the lowest waiting times. June-Sept is the worst time to sign up with install times in the 4-6 month range. I signed in Sept and had my install end of Jan.

At this point, what we need is speed. We need to start separating grade and doing all the things we need to do to bring speeds into the 120-200mph range. That's what makes the full NYC-Boston commuter line feasible.

But getting commuter service to extend to Westerly would be a good start.

So I grew up near where the plaster original for the national Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington wound up, the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Tx. It's a pretty impressive sculpture.

This is a 1/2 scale or so version of that sculpture: same content, different artist's depiction. It's such a recognizable piece of art, though.

War sucks.

In Austin, there's a Costco a block away from a Sam's Club.

Hell, have you ever noticed that in a lot of places, there's a CVS and a Walgreens right across the street from each other?

Or all the places you can find an Advanced Auto Parts and an Autozone right next door?

Hells, here's a place where all 4 of those businesses are in the same map zoom: https://www.google.com/maps/@30.413726,-97.6913476,19.08z?hl=en

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Just because there's already a wholesale club down there, doesn't mean a different one will avoid going in.

Costco should just go for saturation. Put in a big warehouse down by the Walmart and home Depot in Coventry, throw a small warehouse in the empty storefront next to Alvarez high school, squeeze one in somewhere in North Providence or maybe even convince the casino to give over one of its parking lots for a new build, and finally shove one in south Attleboro because why the hell not.

4 stores, all at once, and the entire state is covered.

Dunno if you've ever lived near a Costco or top golf, but I have.

Top golf stays mostly empty and hosts up to 200 people each night, about the same as a busy chili's.

Costco's parking lot is full from open to close, having 400+ people shopping at any one time. I believe fire code for the one near me was 625, and they often had to do one in one out for overcrowding reasons.

They also open separate but attached liquor stores anywhere the laws don't allow them to sell liquor in the warehouse. You doing even have to be a member to shop at the liquor stores.

Huh, new name for the flat cap/newsboy that I hadn't heard.

But also a good linen flat cap is super comfortable for a shaved/bald head and looks really good on certain people and acceptable on others.

Over 50 degrees, I go for the newsboy, under I do a beanie.